Podcast: The Two-Day Workweek for Real Estate Agents

Clayton Gits ran himself ragged working with real estate clients each and every day. Tired of the grind, he cut his work schedule down to just two days per week. Believe it or not, production and profitability at Mission Realty has never been higher. On today’s Real Estate Rockstars with Pat Hiban, Clayton shares why it’s better to be working on the business than it is to be working in the business. Plus, Clayton discusses one of his favorite tools for lead generation, the power of personal development, and more.

Listen to today’s show and learn:

About Clayton Gits [2:17]
Clayton’s sales stats [2:57]
Clayton’s team structure [6:06]
Lead generation and lead distribution [7:43]
A high tech-tool for real estate lead generation [9:30]
Who to call during prospecting sessions [12:45]
How to identify unhealthy market indicators [13:20]
The power of working on, not in, the business [18:32]
Ways to give back to your community [25:12]
The power of personal development [28:20]
The reason why many real estate agents lack fulfillment [29:45]

Related Links and Resources:

Thank You Rockstars!
It might go without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: We really value listeners like you. We’re constantly working to improve the show, so why not leave us a review? If you love the content and can’t stand the thought of missing the nuggets our Rockstar guests share every week, please subscribe; it’ll get you instant access to our latest episodes and is the best way to support your favorite real estate podcast. Have questions? Suggestions? Want to say hi? Shoot me a message via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Email.
-Aaron Amuchastegui

Read the Full Interview

Pat Hiban 00:33

Okay, Rockstar Nation, we have a cool guest today. I got Clayton Gits on the phone. Now Clayton was on the podcast before, but a lot has changed in the the year plus since I’ve talked to him. He’s gone from working seven days a week, as of as his last call to two days a week. And when I found out about this, I was like I need to get Clayton back on. We need to catch up find out how he’s gone from seven days to two days a week and what he’s doing, what his production is doing, what his profit is doing and what is everything doing. So without further ado, Clayton Welcome to pat haven interviews, Real Estate Rockstars

Clayton Gits 02:15

Thanks, Pat. Hey, really appreciate what you’re doing, man. And I, I just have to say that, you know, if these types of listening to other people that you interview is, is game changing stuff and you know, trying to recreate the wheel. I think we’ve all been there is it’s just not necessary when you have access to people like you and what you’re doing. So I just want to say thank you for for spend some time with me today.

Pat Hiban 02:45

Hey, my pleasure. Why don’t you catch everybody up to speed? Please tell everybody about yourself, you know, kind of introduce yourself to our audience.

Clayton Gits 02:54

Yeah, so Clayton gets. I’m with Keller Williams Realty in Richmond, Virginia. I have two beautiful little girls, Sophie and Samantha have married to my best friend love of my life, Stephanie, and have a team of 12 people now. And you kind of teetering between sixth and seventh level in my business. So most of my time now is just spent on hiring, recruiting, training, leading, developing, motivating, so that’s where I am today.

Pat Hiban 03:28

Okay, so how many units will you do this year?

Clayton Gits 03:33

235.

Pat Hiban 03:35

Okay, and how many did you do say a year ago?

Clayton Gits 03:40

Okay.

Pat Hiban 03:42

And you worked seven days a week, you’re down the two. How has your gross commissions changed? How has your profit margin changed?

Clayton Gits 03:53

So yeah, that’s, that’s the cool thing. So we are more profitable this year than we were last year. We are in this may be hard to believe, but we’re hovering right around 40% profit, net profit. So that’s the cool thing with not being in the business. And now our average price per sale went up significantly. We went from 250 to about 300. So that made a big that made a big difference, of course. But But that aside, pat it just it it is the leverage and being able to you know, you always hear people talk about one of my favorite books is cashflow quadrant, Robert Kiyosaki and yeah, yeah, so you know, you always hear people talking about having money working for them, instead of you know, living that that seventh level and it used to be this unicorn that I just did not, I did the limiting beliefs, right, I didn’t think was was attainable, but just through spending time with people that were doing it and Frankly, having a coach that, that did it and told me that it was okay to do it. It’s really how simple it was helped me break through those limiting beliefs and I continue to do that.

Pat Hiban 05:11

Wow, that’s amazing. So, okay, so 235 units 300. So you’re pulling in what? Like 700,000? Gross, something again?

Clayton Gits 05:22

It’s about 800 800. Okay,

Pat Hiban 05:24

so 800 and you’re keeping 40. So you’re at 325 or so net profit.

Clayton Gits 05:31

net profit is closer to 450, actually. Okay.

Pat Hiban 05:39

I think I, yeah. Okay. So your gross is higher than a

Clayton Gits 05:43

lot. Oh, so gross commission income. Yeah. Yeah. GCI is closer to 1.6 1.7. Okay. Okay. Yeah, sorry, I misunderstood.

Pat Hiban 05:55

No, that’s right. I probably missed quote, I missed calculated commission. So

Clayton Gits 06:00

yeah, after tax after tax net profit is closer to 500,000.

Pat Hiban 06:04

Yeah. Okay, so so you know, to make half a million bucks, and to work two days a week is a pretty good gig, how is your team set up currently, so that you can do that

Clayton Gits 06:16

listing manager that just takes listings from start to finish, I have a a transaction manager that just works on the buying side. So she takes those transactions from contract to close at two listing partners, six full time buyer agents, excuse me, five, soon to be six. I have a director operations that is more in charge of implementation, and just managing the the administrative side of things. Sales Manager on the buyer agent side. And my lead listing manager manages the listing department.

Pat Hiban 06:51

Okay. And so, you know, your buyer, your let’s start with your listing agents, what’s their commission split? 25% 25% of them 75% to the company, and what do they have to do?

Clayton Gits 07:06

Lead generate for three hours a day? Yeah, so a lot of what we a lot of our lead generation path is, is lead follow up, but they’re required. So we’ve actually just had this conversation this morning. So Philip is required to go on five listings to his numbers, he has to go on, he needs to take 123 listings in 2016. Wow. Okay, camera has to take 167 listings in 2016, to hit our numbers. So we have a goal, we have a goal of 100 million, a lot of our lead generation is lead. Follow up? Because we have we attract a lot of business, specifically a lot of listings through radio and television.

Pat Hiban 07:48

Yes. So okay, so you pay for the radio and TV ads, people call in the calls go to who?

Clayton Gits 07:57

They go, it depends if it’s, if it’s a buyer lead, then it will go to my sales manager. Okay. It is a listing leads, and it goes directly to Tamra, my lead listing specialist,

Pat Hiban 08:08

okay. And then she decides, hey, I’m going to go on this listing appointment, where I’m going to give it to the other person. Correct? And how does she decide who to, you know, whether she’s gonna keep it for sale for give it to you in person?

Clayton Gits 08:20

Well, so right now, it’s it is a frankly, it’s her discretion. 100% of what we are implementing is a is a system where if, if Tamra is busy, so the phone is going to her phone is going to ring when that lead comes in, and if she is busy and can’t accept that lead, then it will automatically go to fill up, who is our you know, another one of our listing partners, if he is tied up, then it will automatically go to my director of operations and she can choose to do with it from there. Same thing on the buying side, it will have to that lead will have to filter through seven agents to not be answered, you know, within minutes of that lead coming in,

Pat Hiban 09:00

okay. But at that point, it’s a message right? Obviously not gonna ring 28 times four times times seven, right? It rings Four times it goes in the message, and then everybody gets the message.

Clayton Gits 09:12

No, so it’s so it will it the lead it could be could be as simple as an internet lead somebody that just registered on a Boomtown or commissions Inc, or whatever platform so when that leads, that email comes in, this system will read that email. And as long as the number is real, so it will translate or read the number it will call the agent on duty. That agent will know that that lead is coming from that it’s a lead because it’ll say that on their caller ID. So they have the option of picking up and it will say you have a zillo lead. It’s computer generated, Pat, looking to purchase in areas hand up to 300,000 do you want to accept this lead? If you press one, that it automatically dials that lead and it records the conversation Whoa, okay,

Pat Hiban 10:01

so What system is this? You’re using?

Clayton Gits 10:03

Lead simple.

Pat Hiban 10:05

lead, lead, simple lead,

Clayton Gits 10:07

lead simple.com.

Pat Hiban 10:09

So I’m going to get the information. We’re gonna post it on the show notes of Clayton’s episode. If you just go to heibon, digital comm backslash, Clayton, and then number two, it’ll all be there. Yeah, that sounds amazing. And then they for 25%, they go out, they close the deal, they get the listing, do they negotiate the contract when an offer comes in? Yes. And you have somebody else processing all the paperwork and stuff once it’s sold? Yes. And then buyer agents, what do you pay them?

Clayton Gits 10:39

6040 up to 5050. We don’t go above 5050 period. We just that’s that’s our I believe, and what Gary Keller says about breaking that threshold, so 6040 to start, it can go as high as 5050. But that’s,

Pat Hiban 10:55

that’s it? So you get 60 they get 40? Yes. Okay. And even if the lead is their mom, they still getting 40.

Clayton Gits 11:05

That depends. So for my seasoned agents, it’s 5050. For everybody that starts with me, it’s 5545 my way, regardless of where the lead comes from, okay. Cool.

Pat Hiban 11:16

And then do you have careers that are running around putting on lock boxes, taking pictures, doing all that stuff? Or do your listing in house people also do stuff outside?

Clayton Gits 11:26

No, they don’t. Do I have a runner? I have a full time runner. And, and then we just use professional photographers. So he’s not he’s not photographing the property. He’s just sighs a lot of boxes, pre listing material, anything that we have to do, he’ll, he’ll do He’s amazing. Okay.

Pat Hiban 11:42

And so three hours a day, all your people are calling three hours a day, who are they calling? What are they saying? That sort of thing?

Clayton Gits 11:51

Yeah, so the buyers, the buyer agents, it’s a lot of them count a lot of sphere of influence. And the on the seller side is a lot of sphere of influence, we are getting into expireds and fizz bows, I will tell you that that has not been something I have done in the past. But it is something that we’re going to have to hit our numbers, it looks like we’re going to have to go down that road in 2016. And a lot of radio and a lot of TV. Now, do

Pat Hiban 12:14

you see no popping up? By the way? I’m just trying to get an idea of what’s the market like in Richmond, Virginia? Do you see more? Do you see more fizz bows? Or do you see Endor? Do you see more? expireds?

Clayton Gits 12:26

Yeah, both. And I think part of that is time of year and and the market was was really hot in Richmond earlier this year, it has it has slowed down quite a bit, I think, Pat, that we are on the verge of of a of a cooling down period, which is which will be great for us. Because, you know, that means if it goes down significantly, and we’ll we’ll lose some competition. And we’ll we’ll just be in a better position to get our unfair share. Why do you think that? Well, that’s a loaded question. Just because I I know a little more than I guess the average person in terms of what, what is going on from a macro economic standpoint. So I know what the real unemployment numbers are. I know, I know that our economy is a little sicker than we’ve been led to believe. So you bet you can’t manipulate interest rates for 10 plus years and expect to come out on the other side unscathed. It’s exactly what we did to lead up to the 2008 2005 2008 collapse, inviting all of this risky borrowing not only my government level, but on a on an individual level. So Americans are caring as much if not have any long time. So our global governments, so our corporations, because money has been so cheap. So you invite all that risk into the marketplace at some point, it has to reset. So I don’t know if it’s going to be next year or the year after. But all that being said massive opportunity comes with in those right more millionaires are more in a bust and then in a boom. So we’re looking forward to a reset. Frankly, I just I look forward to the day where where governments back away from interest rates, market manipulation, so that we can have more of a normal market because we haven’t had that in quite some time. We’re just creating bubbles, booms and busts.

Pat Hiban 14:21

It is weird how the debt numbers where you expect them to have settled have grown as they have the last couple of years. Last night. I went to buy a jeep and my wife and I have a second home now and I was like man, we need a jeep. Right We need it’s in South Carolina. It rains it’s been raining a lot and it’s flooding and all this stuff. So so you know we need to go buy a Jeep, so went bought a jeep and I was just gonna pay cash for it. And the finance lady comes into the salesman’s office and she starts talking about financing and she begged me to borrow money and I said, You know what, maybe I’ll just put like 10 grand down and I’ll borrow the rest. I don’t like having a lot of debt. She’s like, Well, why would you you can get a 1.9% interest rate in it simple interest and did it at an editor and make a long story short, I ended up borrowing 100% of this cost of this Jeep. And I didn’t intend to so my answer was no, she turned it into a yes. persuasion. And I think that that’s what’s kind of a reflection of what’s going on out there is that there’s a lot of lending.

Clayton Gits 15:28

That is exactly what is happening out there. But Pat, you’re the exception, right? Because you can afford to stroke a check and pay that thing off. Most Americans cannot. So they’re stacking up more and more debt. And when we have a reset, when they their job is either outsourced or displaced, and they can’t afford that loan that they took out, even if it’s at a low, low payment. They’re not just buying a Jeep, right? They’re being talked into buying jeeps and furniture and get that. So bottom line, you can’t carry what so that what happens. And we’re going down a rabbit hole here. But what happens when a country has $130 trillion. And that’s anybody’s guess, if it’s if it’s significantly bigger than that, but at least in liabilities that they can’t perform, where they can’t perform, they can’t pay what happens. Because those are the actual numbers from the the governor, the BLS and unfunded liabilities, what happens with this 20 plus trillion dollars in national debt when when we have to, at some point, when we have to because it can’t go on forever, can it? And what does that mean to our industry as a whole. So that’s why debt is so is that’s why I’m so passionate about debt. So and I’m glad you brought up that example, Pat, because we have to take the lead on not letting Brian Buffini he used to have this incredible example of when he walked into a dealership, he wanted to buy a new car, he wanted to buy a new suburban, he wanted to pay cash, same scenario, this was pre 2005. And he said the saleswoman was amazing. And she actually started talking him into not paying cash. And he basically told her to stop talking because he was he was gonna lose the battle. So anyway, that was a rabbit hole, I

Pat Hiban 17:15

think. So you’re basically saying, Okay, listen, I think we’re gonna have a slowdown and to prepare for that, so that I can increase my number of units, I’m going to start going in on expired, because houses are not selling as fast as they were in Richmond, Virginia, you think that they’re going to start selling even slower? So there’s a market there. And obviously, there’s people all over the world that make a ton of money listing expired listings, again, paid Commission’s on it, you know, we’ve had tons of them on this show. And then you’re going to go into fizz bows to where you’re going to have people that you know, may or may not be able to afford the commission or may not want to pay or what have you. But you’re going to go into that too. So you’re basically taking a strategic stance, digging in some other wells, right, rather than using the traditional wells you’ve used.

Clayton Gits 18:05

Not because of the market slowdown. I’m not so the only thing I’m doing. And by the way past this, Gary Keller said the same thing this year at mastermind that we have, we have reached the top of this bubble that the Federal Reserve has created. So we’re on a downtrend nationally, already. So this is not Clayton gifts, this is somebody that that has a very large international real estate company. So it’s not a matter of if it’s a matter of when. So what I do personally, is I don’t carry debt. And then this year, we talked about this on our last call, I paid my house off last year, and you want to talk about leverage for the people that are listening to this call. You pay off all of your debt, and you have a significant income, it changes everything.

Pat Hiban 18:50

Everything. Right, right. Yeah. And then and it probably makes you actually more of a risk taker in your business because you’re like, Hey, I don’t care, you know, so like, I have to be desperate. So let me try to leverage it. So I can spend more time with my daughters, and see what happens. And lo and behold, when you leverage it, you make more money, you do more sales

Clayton Gits 19:11

exact Exactly. Because you because all of a sudden, when you’re not working seven days a week or whatever, with clients, and you’re not in that grind you have time to to actually work on the business. And I will tell you, it’s pretty ugly when you open up the hood when you haven’t checked the oil in 10 years. But But how powerful that is when you actually have four or five days a week to work on the business instead of in it and with no debt and with no debt, and you want to talk about living from abundance instead of scarcity. And that’s so so just to kind of catch you up Pat we’re launching a new we’re rebranding entirely. And mission realty real estate with a purpose is our new brand and it has everything to do with living from abundance and getting back to this amazing industry that has given us all so much.

Pat Hiban 20:01

So tell me about that. How’s that going to work?

Clayton Gits 20:04

We’re also we’re partnering with three local organizations to its multi, multi tiered are multifaceted, but our giving arm is a percentage of every home that we sell is going to go back to in the beginning, three organizations that we have chosen that are really having having an impact in Richmond, Virginia.

Pat Hiban 20:23

So that’s where it starts to put some color in this black and white picture that you’re painting. So what are the three organizations? What do they do?

Clayton Gits 20:32

Yep, so Kara, cos takes men, mostly men, but they have a an arm for women as well, that are under the throes of some sort of addiction, drug, alcohol, whatever that want help. And they have, they have a whatever step program to get them clean and sober, then they have a job training program. Once they’re clean, sober, then they basically help them rebuild their lives. And then they train them on how to interview, they train them on how to get a job on how to become productive citizens. So that’s, that’s one organization, they’re very well known in our market. feedmore is the second one. They’re feeding hundreds of 1000s of people. So we’re going to get involved with them. And by the way, it’s not just resources, one of the things I’ve struggled with is getting back up my time. So my team and I are going to get out there in the community. And we’re going to get our hands dirty. Nice. And, and then the last organization is Massey cancer. And that’s because as you know, I’ve had cancer twice. And they’ve been a big part of of my recovery. And so we want to support what they’re doing, as well.

Pat Hiban 21:38

What percentage are you given to them to these to this pot of money that you’re giving out?

Clayton Gits 21:48

I’m still trying to figure that we’re launching January one. So I’m still trying to figure out that piece and how that’s going to work. So I can’t disclose that quite yet. Yep. But the but the vision, the ultimate vision is to give people the are you familiar with Tom’s dot com? Sure. Absolutely. Okay, so that, so why not? If more organizations did what Tom’s did, and made getting a part of their culture, we can not only change a community, we can change our world. So and it’s getting it’s get. So we made that a part of our culture, we made that a part of our our core values, if we’re going to spend 5060, sometimes 70 hours a week selling real estate, we are going to have an impact. I want my people to show up and be passionate, not only about selling homes and helping people, but about what the what’s the outcome of that? Right? What happens when we sell a property? Yeah, we’re changing lives in the community,

Pat Hiban 22:45

the culture, that will be amazing, because you know, you’ll have people writing your letters, and you’ll have, you know, opportunities to meet with the people and to touch the people and to help the people and hug the people. And we can’t wait. I mean, it’ll it’ll, it’ll do some incredible culture building within your team. Yeah, that’s really cool. I really like that. I’m curious to see how that I know how it’ll pan out. But I’m curious to see what you end up doing. And maybe you’ll inspire other real estate agents, and I hope you will, that are listening to this to do the same thing and not just kind of give a couple of dollars eat settlement and say, Hey, I give to, you know, XYZ company with every settlement to make it a part of the culture like Tom’s you know, where buy one pair of shoes, and then a needy kid gets a second pair of shoes. Well, yeah.

Clayton Gits 23:33

And it’s Yeah, so if it’s more than that, they’re not only getting shoes, right? They’re they’re actually providing water, they’re providing shelter. I mean, it’s so the sky’s the limit. Once you get a significant enough of the population, engage, you can accomplish big things. So so that’s the that’s one layer path. The other layer is why aren’t we developing our people to be better leaders? Right. So I just I made the decision that I’m going to no more scarcity in my life abundant. So I we do personal development training every single Tuesday. And right now we’re going through just an amazing Jim Rohn. Every week, they don’t hardly put this incredible thing together, where it’s like, I don’t know, 1012 week course, and I’m taking my team through it. And when I told all of them is, look, if I personally develop you out of my business. Great. And that’s abundance, right? That’s abundance. Because what they’re going to do is they’re going to go change lives, because that’s a part of our culture. And they’re going to take that into another culture. Now, if they stay, they’re going to they’re going to grow because we are introducing them to things that they’ve never been introduced to pat simple concepts that we’ve talked about before. If you will change everything will change for you. If you want more, you must first become more learn to work harder on yourself, then you do your job. That’s an interesting thing for an employer to say to an employee, right?

Pat Hiban 25:13

Yeah. Right? How many say that? I mean, how many employers say that to their, to their team?

Clayton Gits 25:19

What is loyalty, it knows loyalty because they know that I care about them, and their development, and therefore you

Pat Hiban 25:26

developing them, and you’re also allowing them to have more fulfillment in their life. And I think a lot of the reason why people don’t have fulfillment in their life is because they, they work too hard, and they don’t have time to give back. Everybody wants to give back to charity, at the end of the day, got a couple of kids and you got a full time job. It’s like, Yeah, I don’t got time, maybe when I’m retired, I’ll give back. So this allows them to give back now as part of their job.

Clayton Gits 25:58

Well, the Pat, it has, it’s more than that, it allows them to start thinking about abundance. So it doesn’t matter how much money you make, within reason, right? But 3040 $50,000 a year, if, if used properly saved properly, can create a small fortune. that’s a that’s a fact. But we’re just buying all of this stuff, and throwing away a lot of money, when in reality, and we’re not thinking about our future thoughts. So this this morning, for example, we talked about the richest man in Babylon, and how they are all going to read that book because it will teach them how to be better stewards of their money. Right. And, and, and hopefully, it will put them in position so they don’t have to work for the rest of their lives, which is the reality for most people in this country.

Pat Hiban 26:47

And you’re leading a great example to them by by having your house paid off, and by letting them know that your house is paid off by making it public knowledge that your house is paid off. You know,

Clayton Gits 26:58

yeah, I don’t just preach. I mean, I really try hard to and I am so far from being perfect. But I that I embrace failure, because that’s where my biggest lessons that I learned, but But yeah, they I really try to live what what I’ve learned and what I can what I talked about it by putting it out there, Pat, we’re more likely to do it because people hold us accountable to, to the things that we throw out there in the universe, right?

Pat Hiban 27:20

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, you if you go on a diet, you want to tell as many people as possible. with it. Yeah, that that this is beautiful. Well, Clayton, listen, this has been a great show, you know, you and I can talk for days and days and get deep and deep in the stuff. So you know, I welcome you back anytime. And I do want to hear about how it’s going. Because I really do think you might be able to, you might be onto something, you might be able to just start a wave, so to speak, and maybe middle of next year. Let’s talk again, I’d like to see how it’s going. And I’d like to see if maybe we can get some other aids out there to have a similar model to yours where your profits are going back. For a sevenly or any of these other companies are out there. They’re doing this.

Clayton Gits 28:06

Yeah, yeah. Love to appreciate your time very much. Okay, buddy. Have a great day. God bless.